CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION BROOKLYN DIOCESE

CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION
BROOKLYN DIOCESE
NEWSLETTER
Volume 1—Issue III - SUMMER 2016
Welcome
Welcome to the third issue of the CYO Newsletter. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer; the weather
has been quite warm but let’s enjoy it because we never know what a winter in New York can bring. As the summer
days begin to wind down we are preparing for the CYO 2016-17 Fall Season. This issue will review the CYO 2016 Spring
season and provide information for the upcoming Fall/Winter season.
CYO in the Diocese of Brooklyn is proud to introduce two new sport programs for the 2017 Spring season,
Flag Football and Boys Volleyball. Information on these sports can be found in the Athletic Manual on the CYO website
(www.cyodob.org).
I would like to take this opportunity to remind all involved in the Catholic Youth Organization the importance of sports and evangelization. In his address to the soccer teams of Italy and Argentina, Pope Francis said: You,
dear players, are very popular: people follow you very closely and not only on the field but also off it. This is a social
responsibility! Let me explain: during the game, when you are out on the field, you display beauty, generosity and
camaraderie. If a match lacks these qualities it loses force, even if the team wins. The good you do is impressive. With
your conduct, the way you play, your values, you do good when people watch you, take advantage of this to sow goodness.
Please share Pope Francis’ words with the youth in your program as well as all the coaches, leaders and
volunteers reminding them of the CYO philosophy encouraging our young men and women toward Christian leadership, growth in social awareness, and development of sound Christian values.
God Bless,
Robert Caldera
Executive Director, CYO
By Jim Mancari—The Tablet
The Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of Brooklyn and Queens held its
third annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony May 20 at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston.
A group of 11 deserving athletes, coaches, athletic directors, parish
administrators and officials were honored as the Class of 2016.
“Tonight we honor individuals who have made significant contributions
to CYO,” said CYO Director Rob Caldera. “These individuals are not being
recognized for games or championships won but for their role in shaping the youth of the diocese.
The following honorees were enshrined for their lifelong dedication to
the CYO’s mission of instilling the Catholic values of sports into young
athletes:
Carol O’Connell, who died Feb. 12, began coaching softball at St. Patrick,
St. Margaret Mary and St. Joseph parishes of Astoria in the 1980s. At St.
Margaret Mary, she coached boys’ basketball and became the parish
athletic representative.
Her legacy will live on through the CYO’s Carol O’Connell Aim High
Scholarship Award, given this year to eighth-grader Anthony Pace of St.
Luke’s, who won the 2016 CYO essay contest and a $1,000 scholarship
to St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows.
Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, the diocesan vicar for development and pastor
of St. Bernard parish, Mill Basin, is active with various diocesan-, community- and city-wide organizations.
As director of the diocesan Office of Parish Giving, he helps coordinate
the CYO’s annual Golf Classic, the profits of which fund CYO sports and
programs throughout the year.
Msgr. Gigantiello, a lover of the culinary arts, can be seen on NET-TV’s
“Breaking Bread,” a series currently in its sixth season.
9/3/16: Fall Soccer Begins
9/07/16: Cross Country Coaches
Meeting—7PM @ IC Center
THE ANNUAL PARISH ATHLETIC REPRESENTATIVE MEETING FOR 2016-17 WILL BE ON MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH,
2016 AT THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CENTER IN DOUGLASTON @ 6:30pm.
CYO Hall of Fame Welcomes Inductees
UPCOMING EVENTS
Lenny Bishop attended Stuyvesant H.S., Manhattan; Bayside
H.S.; and Medgar Evers College, Flatbush.
He coached high school football, basketball and baseball as
well as baseball and basketball at the CYO level at St. Kevin,
Flushing; St. John Vianney, Flushing; and St. Mary’s Winfield
in Woodside.
Bishop reached the championship game in all of these
sports and coached players who went on to play in the NFL,
NBA and MLB. He also worked as an official for basketball,
baseball and softball.
Michael Cawley has been a parishioner at St. Kevin, Flushing, for 50 years. When his sons wanted to play baseball, he
joined the St. Kevin’s Youth Guild in 2003.
He began coaching and soon became the director of intramural baseball at the parish. He moved on to become the
parish’s baseball athletic director and is currently the parish
athletic representative.
Cawley played an integral role in helping to revive the
baseball and softball programs of the Brooklyn Diocese. He
assisted the CYO staff in organizing leagues and has worked
tirelessly in maintaining the fields to make sure they are
playable for the athletes.
Joe Crimi began his coaching tenure in 1978 for the boys’
intermediate team at St. Pancras, Glendale.
He also coached baseball for 10 years at various levels, and
was the parish’s basketball athletic director in 2003 and
2004. In addition to coaching, he served as a CYO basketball
referee for over 30 years and is a member of the IAABO
Queens Board 119.
Crimi is currently the JV basketball coach at Cathedral Prep
and Seminary, Elmhurst. He helped organize the CYO’s
annual coaches clinic, which took place at Cathedral last fall.
Harry Connor Jr. is a parishioner at St. Sebastian, Woodside.
He played high school baseball at St. Agnes Boys H.S.,
(cont. on p2)
9/17/16: CYO Soccer Night
with Futures in Education @
Yankee Stadium
9/19/16: PAR Meeting—6PM @
IC Center—Douglaston
9/23/16—10/9/16: Pre-Season
Basketball Tournament
10/05/16: Referee Meeting—
7PM @ IC Center
10/14/16: Girls Basketball Season
Begins
10/21/16: CYO Youth Holy
Hour @ IC Center, 6:30pm
10/21/16: Boys Swimming Begins
10/22/16: CYO Mass Q5 Deanery—Holy Family
10/28/16: Boys Basketball Season
Begins
11/5/16—11/13/16: Fall Soccer
Playoffs
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CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION BROOKLYN DIOCESE
CYO Hall of Fame Welcomes Inductees
By Jim Mancari—The Tablet (continued from p.1)
Manhattan, before he began working at the St. Sebastian Parish Center, where he recently
celebrated his 30th year, 14 of which have been as director. He began as a CYO baseball
umpire at the age of 16. He coached baseball at St. Sebastian for 20 years, 1978-1998, in the
Rookie and Intermediate divisions. He also coached 20 years of Intermediate and Tyro
basketball, 1980-2000.
Connor also served as parish athletic representative for 12 years. He was a member of the
St. Sebastian Sports Council and continues to aid the CYO in helping to schedule gym and
pool time.
Ray Fortune started in CYO as the four-year-old bat boy for the American Martyrs, Bayside,
baseball team coached by his father, while his mother ran the parish’s CYO program. He
played baseball and basketball in the early 1960s. After returning from the Vietnam War, he
coached basketball and baseball until 1979.
Following the death of his wife, Fortune played a key role in helping to revive the sports
program at American Martyrs in the early 1990s. Enrollment increased from 25 children to
over 200 children, and the program continues to thrive today.
Rich Frohnhoefer got involved with CYO when his children were active playing basketball,
baseball, volleyball, softball, swimming and soccer at St. Gregory the Great, Bellerose. He
became the parish athletic representative in 2002 and served for 13 years.
During his tenure, he always offered the CYO the use of St. Gregory’s facilities. That tradition has continued with the gym serving as a host site for basketball playoff games.
Frohnhoefer currently is an advisor to the St. Gregory Athletic Association board of directors.
Kenny Marchisella was among a group of volunteers who helped begin the CYO softball
program at St. Leo, Corona, in the 1970s. He was soon named parish athletic representative,
a position he held for four years.
He later coached basketball, baseball and softball at St. Thomas the Apostle, Woodhaven. At
the same time, he coached baseball at Christ the King H.S., Middle Village. After becoming
athletic director at St. Thomas in 1992, he also coached softball at both St. Francis Prep,
Fresh Meadows, and Molloy College, Rockville Centre, L.I. He is still active in CYO, helping
out the St. Stanislaus, Ozone Park, basketball program.
Donald Grady, who passed away in 1994, was a lifelong parishioner at St. Patrick, Bay Ridge.
He attended St. Michael’s H.S., Sunset Park, before earning a hockey scholarship to Seton
Hall University. He started coaching at the parish in 1960 and served as the assistant director for basketball until 1993. In his 30-plus years at the parish, he also coached and led
fundraising events.
All four of his children have been heavily involved in CYO in their various parishes throughout the diocese.
Morris O. Pasqual Sr., who died in 2014, returned from a stint in the U.S. Navy to settle at
St. Clement Pope, Jamaica, where he began helping out with the track team in the early
1960s. He became head coach in 1964 after it appeared the program was about to fold.
He later became the parish athletic representative, overseeing the baseball, basketball and
track teams. When his son took over the track program, he continued to help out in many
capacities, especially as Novice stick passing coach in the late 1980s.
CYO Golf Outing Is Better Than Par
By Jim Mancari—The Tablet
Playing sports at a young age can be a vital tool in developing skills that can benefit a
person later in life. Such is the mission of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Catholic Youth
Organization (CYO), and in order to keep that mission going strong, it takes a community-wide effort.
For the past seven years, the diocesan Office of Parish Giving and Annual Catholic
Appeal have hosted the CYO Golf Classic to benefit the athletic and spiritual needs of
the youth of the diocese.
On June 16, over 100 golfers played the challenging course at the North Hills Country
Club in Manhasset, L.I., to show their support for CYO sports.
“The purpose of the CYO golf outing is to raise the funds needed to provide for the
CYO programs in our parishes and also to provide youth ministry in the diocese,” said
Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, diocesan vicar for development.
Msgr. Gigantiello was recently inducted into the CYO Hall of Fame in recognition of his
efforts each year in organizing the golf outing along with Rita Damato from the Office
of Parish Giving.
This year, $100,000 was raised, a portion of which helps fund the CYO programs
throughout the year as well as support the entire youth ministry of the diocese. A
majority of the funding is used to help parishes rent facilities throughout Brooklyn and
Queens for practices and games, since not all parishes are lucky enough to have their
own facilities.
“I’m extremely grateful,” said CYO Director Rob Caldera. “Each year, the money raised
from the golf outing has greatly helped me expand this organization. Over the next
year, we plan to even expand more.”
CYO has big plans for the upcoming year. In addition to adding the new sports of flag
football and boys’ volleyball, the organization is looking to institute a youth summer
camp for next year to be held at the Immaculate Conception Center in Douglaston.
Nearly 20,000 children from just under 125 parishes participated in 13 sports and
events this past year. With more kids playing, a trickle-down effect then allows the
mission of the CYO to be further spread throughout the diocese.
“It’s a two-fold role that sports plays,” Msgr. Gigantiello said. “First of all, it’s a vehicle
of evangelization for young people to keep them connected to the Church and their
parish.
“And then second is to also help them to develop not necessarily their sports skills but
to help them to realize what it means to be a team player, to work together and how
we’re called to support and assist each other to achieve a goal. It’s a way of sharing
our talents with others so that the whole team benefits from it.”
At this year’s outing, special guests included Judge Patricia Dimango – who appears on
CBS’ “Hot Bench.” St. John’s University’s former basketball coach Lou Carnesecca was
honored with an award but was unable to attend.
Even though summer vacation is now here, the CYO will continue to be in full swing
over the next few months with the third annual summer basketball league, which
wraps up in early August.
Shortly after that, it’s on to another year of CYO sports and youth ministry activities in
the diocese, made possible, in part, by the annual golf outing.
Just like it takes teamwork on the field, court, diamond and even the pool, a team
effort by the Office of Parish Giving keeps the CYO running strong.
Volume 1, Issue III
SPORTS Page 3
CYO SOCCER—DIOCESAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
CYO SOFTBALL—DIOCESAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The CYO Spring Soccer Diocesan Championships took place from June 13th
through June 19th. Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the
2016 Spring Soccer Diocesan Championships. A special congratulations to the
tournament champions and runner-up's:
The CYO Diocesan Softball Championships took place from June 6th through
June 19th. Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the 2016
Softball Diocesan Championships. A special congratulations to the tournament champions and runner-up's:
CYO BASEBALL—DIOCESAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The CYO Diocesan Baseball Championships took place from June 6th through
June 19th. Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the 2016
Baseball Diocesan Championships. A special congratulations to the tournament champions and runner-up's:
CYO SUMMER BASKETBALL
—DIOCESAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The CYO Summer Basketball League Diocesan Championships took place on
August 3rd & 4th at McClancy High School in East Elmhurst. Congratulations
to all the teams that participated in the 2016 Summer Basketball Diocesan
Championships. A special congratulations to the tournament champions and
CYO OUTDOOR TRACK
The 2016 CYO Outdoor Track season enjoyed record participation with over
900 runners from 18 parishes.
While the weather did impact the schedule, the loss of the Olympics meet
was offset by our new participation in the Tom Farrell Invitational hosted by
St. John's University. Diocesan champions were as follows: Boys East-Our Lady
of Lourdes, Girls East-Our Lady of Lourdes, Boys West-American Martyrs, Girls
West-Our Lady of the Snows
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CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION BROOKLYN DIOCESE
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CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION BROOKLYN DIOCESE
SCHOOL OF EVANGELIZATION
Teens Embrace Faith at
Brooklyn Catholic Youth Day
by—Maria-Pia Negro Chin
Two thousand teens from 65 parishes and schools came to Carnesecca Arena at St. John’s University,
Jamaica, to experience this year’s Brooklyn Catholic Youth Day on Saturday, April 30. The day was filled with prayer,
music, talks and fun opportunities for fellowship for junior high and high school teens from parishes around the diocese.
“I came to have an encounter with Jesus,” said Carlos Castillo, who was one of 18 people coming from St. Fortunata
Church, East New York.
Isabella Zegarra had participated in last year’s youth day and had to share it with her youth group at Our Lady of the
Angelus, Rego Park.
“I loved the music, the preaching, I loved the people and I loved that there were so many people that loved God as much
as I do,” she said.
The day before, the diocese held a Brooklyn Catholic High School Rally in the same arena, with 560 participants representing 12 Catholic high schools.
Samantha Mulvey had an amazing experience at the Friday rally with her classmates from The Mary Louis Academy,
Jamaica Estates, and decided to come back with the Martyrs Active Youth Organization (MAYO).
“I think sometimes people think youth don’t care about God,” she said, “but coming together with 2,000 people and all
young people, you can really feel the spirit of God here.”
The following night, around 350 college students also had a chance to live out their faith at the second College Youth
Night. Throughout the weekend, a total of 3,000 young people reflected on God’s mercy at the BCYD events.
From April 29 to May 1 the diocesan School of Evangelization’s Youth and Young Adult Faith Formation Office sponsored an entire weekend devoted to “Encountering the Joy of Christ’s Mercy.”
“The Holy Father called for this Year of Mercy and his whole pontificate is about encountering Christ,” said Paul Morisi,
diocesan coordinator of youth and young adult faith formation. “We hope (the young people) encounter Christ through
this day and be joyful in their faith.”
Christian singer Ike Ndolo and his band kicked off April 30’s Brooklyn Catholic Youth Day with worship songs. Then,
Father Josephjude Gannon, pastor of St. Gerard Majella Church, Hollis, talked about the vocation to the priesthood and
religious life. He encouraged the youth to talk to priests and sisters who were present.
This was followed by Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez, who blessed the youth and those who volunteer their
time to build up the faith community in Brooklyn and Queens.
In his homily, the bishop shared a story that illustrated the grace of walking with one another.
Just as “the disciples accompany one another so that God’s word might be heard,” he said, “us as Catholics, as Christians must do the same for others” to build the kingdom on this earth.
One way to walk with others in this Year of Mercy is to serve the poor and make those who are suffering happy, he
added.
Speaker and musician Jackie Francois said that to be merciful is to relieve a heart that is in misery.
She shared how as a teenager she realized that “everything good she had came from God,” which helped her to reflect
on her own selfishness, prompting change. She started attending daily Mass and reading the Bible (starting with the
Gospels), which challenged her to be better.
“God crashed into my life and said, ‘Jackie, I want to show you real love,’” she said.
She also asked the hard questions about her faith and Church teachings, which made her love the Church and no longer
want to be a 50-percent Catholic or 75-percent Catholic.
“When it comes to God’s team, He does not want you to ‘half it’ because He gave everything for you,” Francois said with
an image of Christ as a backdrop.
She also talked about unconditional love, respect, chastity and marriage – adding that giving 100 percent of your love
means trying to get your loved ones to heaven.
“God created us for real love, a love that last forever,” she said. “God is proposing His love to you, what is your answer
going to be?”
Urius Martiel, a parishioner from St. Matthew Church, Crown Heights, said the keynote was exciting and helped people
to be better men and women.
“She showed us how to be one with Christ and follow Jesus until the end, for eternity.”
Francois’ talk was followed by the opportunity to seek the sacrament of reconciliation while young people partook in
eucharistic adoration.
Pearl Larnage from Holy Cross parish in Flatbush said that she felt united with the youth from different parishes. “I felt
holy being here,” she said. “Youth can worship Jesus too; we just do it in our own way.”
“The best experience was (seeing) the Blessed Sacrament … You really
felt like
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VISIT
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CATHOLIC YOUTH ORGANIZATION BROOKLYN DIOCESE